JARAGUA DO SUL, Brazil – Iliarde Santos quickly found out what a bad idea it was to fight a bigger opponent on short-notice.

Yuri Alcantara asserted his dominance early and put Santos away in the first round of the FX-televised preliminary-card fight.

The bantamweight bout was part of Saturday’s UFC on FX 8 event at Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

From the opening exchanges of the fight, Santos, who frequently competes at flyweight and replaced the injured Marcos Vinicius, was undersized and outmatched from the get-go by his aggressive opponent. A flying knee came early from Alcantara, and a flurry of punches put Santos in danger against the cage.

Alcantara gave his opponent a little room to breathe midway through the frame, but quickly seized an opportunity to finish. Countering a lazy leg kick, he sent Santos to the mat with a left hand and pounded the newcomer out with a flurry of punches.

The official time of the stoppage came at the 2:31 mark of the first round.

“It’s always great to be able to fight at home,” Alcantara said. “I always aim for a submission or a knockout, and I was finally able to get one here in the UFC. From now on, it’s always going to be like this.”

“It was a tough debut,” Santos said. “I fought a tricky opponent who is a friend and who has lived with me. I’m in this major event, I felt the pressure and I froze. Now I just need to prepare myself for the next one.”

Alcantara (28-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC) is back to the winner’s circle after a pair of disappointing fights in the octagon. Prior to fighting at UFC on FX 8, he landed an inadvertent, but illegal head shot that forced a no-contest with Pedro Nobre at UFC on FX 7, and he lost a decision to Hacran Dias at UFC 147. Santos (27-7-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) goes back to the drawing board after seeing his six-fight win streak snapped.

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